[NOTE: I wrote the review below after watching episode 1. Then, I read a review that gave this TV series a 9 and mentioned that the low reviews were from people who probably just watched episode 1 and to give it a chance because it gets better. Well, I decided to watch past episode 1 and guess what, it gets worse. Shame on the reviewer for giving it a 9 and misleading people to keep watching. Some really dodgy people out there.]
There are some TV shows that you know right away are going to be bad. It's like food. You can eat a delicious plate of food made with the best ingredients and know from the first taste that it is the highest quality. Conversely, one bite of a stale ham and cheese sandwich out of a vending machine and you just want to toss it in the bin. Cypher is like taking that ham and cheese out of the bin and taking a second bite.
The storyline itself is interesting but the execution is terrible. Ham and cheese go great together but if the ham is chewy, fat and smells kind of funny, it's going to taste awful. For this TV series, the production is weak, the acting is horrible, and the casting completely misses the mark. I imagine though if this was done with quality production, direction and acting, it might have worked. The ROKU channel has great ambitions but needs to secure the exclusive first-window rights to quality content not this garbage.
I do want to point out the most obvious problem with this TV series, it's Martin Dingle Wall. He is so wrong for this role. One of the FBI's leading crypto-analysts? I don't think so. Maybe a divorced motorcycle mechanic who lives in a van and likes to surf when he gets time would be a more appropriate role. As a lead techie, no way, which makes this completely unbelievable and unwatchable. Watching him stumble and mumble through simple dialogue is painful.
Of course, not all the blame goes to Dingle Wall. Brian Krause is dreadful and looks like he could use a few dozen Red Bulls. In fact, all of the acting is some of the worst I've seen, which lands on the direction. I wish I could just erase this from my memory.
There are some TV shows that you know right away are going to be bad. It's like food. You can eat a delicious plate of food made with the best ingredients and know from the first taste that it is the highest quality. Conversely, one bite of a stale ham and cheese sandwich out of a vending machine and you just want to toss it in the bin. Cypher is like taking that ham and cheese out of the bin and taking a second bite.
The storyline itself is interesting but the execution is terrible. Ham and cheese go great together but if the ham is chewy, fat and smells kind of funny, it's going to taste awful. For this TV series, the production is weak, the acting is horrible, and the casting completely misses the mark. I imagine though if this was done with quality production, direction and acting, it might have worked. The ROKU channel has great ambitions but needs to secure the exclusive first-window rights to quality content not this garbage.
I do want to point out the most obvious problem with this TV series, it's Martin Dingle Wall. He is so wrong for this role. One of the FBI's leading crypto-analysts? I don't think so. Maybe a divorced motorcycle mechanic who lives in a van and likes to surf when he gets time would be a more appropriate role. As a lead techie, no way, which makes this completely unbelievable and unwatchable. Watching him stumble and mumble through simple dialogue is painful.
Of course, not all the blame goes to Dingle Wall. Brian Krause is dreadful and looks like he could use a few dozen Red Bulls. In fact, all of the acting is some of the worst I've seen, which lands on the direction. I wish I could just erase this from my memory.